Hockey players are all brothers in arms when it comes to The Union versus The Owners, but not everyone is equal in the battle because some players could handle missing a whole season athletically, not to mention fiscally, a whole lot easier than others.

Like Edmonton Oilers winger Taylor Hall, at age 20, compared to teammate Ryan Smyth, at 36.

Smyth has already sacrificed one year out of his hockey life in 2004-05 that he’ll never get back because of a lockout when most fans thought the players were greedy. A second one in what is the autumn of his NHL career would be a huge blow, not just because of the missed paycheques.

“Absolutely, I look at a lockout differently than somebody younger,” said Smyth, who lives to be on the ice and is already triple the average NHL career of 5-1/2 seasons.

“Even with guys going over to Europe (if there’s a lockout), I’m sure those teams would be looking at kids first.”

Related

Smyth’s story is the opposite of fellow left-winger Hall’s, who has played just two NHL seasons and probably feels he has another 12 to 15 before his body starts to wear down.

Hall could be losing $3.8 million US (including performance bonuses) this season. That’s no small thing. But he’s an NHL baby compared to Smyth, who hates the thought of missing two or three months, maybe longer, if there’s a lockout.

“There’s tremendous upside here, there’s something special with this team … we’re putting the pieces together,” Smyth said Wednesday at the Kinsmen Twin Arenas, where a few Oilers players have been skating informally this week.

“With the last lockout (players refusing a salary cap) and this one (if it comes) … I just can’t see the owners wanting to miss a whole year, or the players.”

Edmonton native Ray Whitney just signed a two-year, $9-million deal with the Dallas Stars at age 40. That’s the most salary Whitney has ever made, although he did get a $500,000 signing bonus this season and next that they can’t take away.

Whitney was in the NHL with the San Jose Sharks in 1994-95 and skated with the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s Fort Saskatchewan Traders until NHL teams started an abbreviated 48-game season. He didn’t play during the lockout in 2004-05 after spending one season with the Detroit Red Wings.

“When you’ve been in the league as long as I have (since 1992), you’ve made a lot of money, but the more times they take away the game we want to play, the more it hurts guys like us because we don’t have that many games left in us,” he said Wednesday.

Whitney is a company man, though. He says he’s in it for the greater good for all 700-plus players. He has the salve of the signing bonus and a two-year deal, but again, he’s 40.

“Every day or game they cancel, we can’t get back, where younger guys have another 15 years to go,” said Whitney, who started his NHL career with the Sharks on the back-end of a players’ strike over licensing money for the NHLPA (trading cards).

“That said, I’m not just taking whatever they (NHL) shove at me so I can play. You take what’s best for everyone.”
Smyth has been through three lockouts, too, the first when he was 18, the second when he was 28.

“I was fortunate in ’94 to be able to play junior in Moose Jaw, even though it was only $85 every two weeks,” said Smyth, who organized some charity games in 2004-05, then played in the world hockey championship, but not on a European team like Dany Heatley when he broke his orbital bone.

Smyth concedes the optics of NHLers going over to Europe to take other people’s jobs isn’t good if there’s a lockout.

“It’s a great question, but somebody is always trying to take your job in the NHL, too,” he said. “You want to maintain a game level, want to compete and can’t do it unless you play.”

The prevailing feeling is the owners can handle a lockout because they don’t care if there are games in October and into November in the U.S. because they’re battling the NFL and high school and college sports in their town for the fans’ dollar, anyway. But that’s short-sighted thinking.

Tell the Los Angeles Kings how it’ll be with no Stanley Cup banner to raise if there’s a lockout, or the Minnesota Wild, whose owner Craig Leipold paid Ryan Suter and Zach Parise $98 million each over 13 years with huge signing bonuses and increased fan interest.

Or the Nashville Predators, whose owners have to pay Shea Weber about $25 million in a signing bonus over a calendar year after matching the Philadelphia Flyers’ offer sheet. Or the Carolina Hurricanes, who traded for Jordan Staal to go with his brother Eric, or the Madhouse on Madison, which is full every night for Chicago Blackhawks’ home games.

“I’ve played on small market teams, and it sucks when you know you can’t make yourself better because the league doesn’t provide for it,” said Whitney, who steadfastly says better revenue sharing is the way to go.

“I know Shea Weber got that nice contract, but he’s probably saying, ‘Look, if (Nashville) doesn’t get some help from the league, are they ever going to be able to sign more players to be a contender. That’s the problem. There’s lots of money out there; just find a better way to divide it up, so the small guys can fight.”